


Stay Right Here

by Emerald_Ashes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 19:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9783545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Ashes/pseuds/Emerald_Ashes
Summary: Hunk can’t sleep. He tries, yet it just won’t come to him. But he's not the only one having a rough night.





	

The ship creaked with noises of the night. Little metallic pings, and slight hisses of the cooling systems running through the vents into the rooms. The sounds were not all that intrusive after getting used to them, in fact they were sometimes comforting. Hunk never really had much of a problem falling asleep while on the ship, but this night he had been in and out of dreams.

Something just wouldn’t let him fall asleep completely. Maybe he was still just too wound up from their fight earlier in the day. They came in contact with a small fleet of Galra fighter ships, who had fired upon them immediately. So obviously, they fought back. It roughed them up a bit, but overall it was an easy battle. They didn’t even have to form Voltron.

Hunk sighed and rolled over onto his left side, attempting to find a comfortable spot. He tried counting backwards to lull himself to sleep. The second he hit number ninety-three there was a slight tapping at his bedroom door that roused him. He wasn't even sure if it was real, or just another clang in the vents. Then he heard it again, stronger.  
  
He got up and went to open the door. It slid open fairly quietly, and Hunk found Lance standing before him. A blanket draped around his shoulders and pulled loosely up over his head like a hood. He looked incredibly pale, his eyes had bags under them, and they were watery like he had been crying.  
  
Hunk didn't say anything. He just stepped aside and Lance walked over to the bed, crawled across the mattress, and huddled against the wall. Hunk, of course, followed after Lance. He slid back under his covers and made sure Lance had enough as well, even though he did bring his own blanket with him.

This wasn’t the first time Lance has come to Hunk in the middle of the night. Usually it was when something was bothering him. Or if he just wasn’t feeling well. There were a few times Lance just wanted to cuddle next to another body, but that that didn’t seem to be the case tonight.  Hunk placed his hand tenderly against Lance’s forehead to check for a fever just to be safe. He was a bit clammy. If anything he was a little too cool to the touch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hunk whispered. It must have been a nightmare that prompted his late night visit this time. Although, this one must have shaken him up pretty bad. Usually he wasn’t this subdued afterwards. Lance was pretty forthcoming with what was bothering him when he came to Hunk.

"It was a memory," Lance said after a few moments of silence. His voice muffled by the bedding. He inched closer to Hunk until his head was touching his shoulder.  "From the night that bomb went off in the castle. I just remembered, or dreamed…I’m not sure. It was like it was happening all over again,” Lance’s voice faltered.

Oh, that was a bad one. Hunk didn't think Lance recalled too much of that night, and it had been months ago at this point. But to remember that pain, it was no wonder he was here seeking comfort. Maybe the battle today was dredging up the memories again.  
  
"Aw, Lance. You're okay. You're safe now," Hunk took his hand and rubbed it against Lance’s shoulder. “You're okay."  
  
"I-I know. But it just hit me so hard. I woke up, and thought I was still in trouble. I could still feel the heat on my skin. The force against my back as the blast hit me. The scars ache," he whispered the last part, like it was a shameful secret.  
  
Hunk sighed, snaked his arm around Lance, and pulled him a little closer. There were places on Lance’s back and side where he had been badly burned from the explosion. It would have been worse if he wasn’t wearing his armor. The cryopod had healed Lance completely. Though the pod had essentially created new skin where the damage to Lance’s body had been severe; leaving behind light mottled marks against his brown skin. The scars would vanish with time. But Hunk knew they sometimes bothered him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lance" Hunk wasn't sure what else to say. He could only try to support Lance. "I know that was a horrible experience for you. But you saved Coran. You even saved Pidge when you were injured."  
  
"Yeah, and the kickback from my blaster knocked me unconscious again,” he muttered miserably. “I was useless. If I had noticed just one second sooner that it wasn't Rover..."  
  
"That's not your fault," Hunk said quickly. "None of that was your fault. Are you...are you blaming yourself for what happened?" The realization dawned on him.   
  
Hunk felt Lance shrug. And his heart broke a little. How could Lance even think for one second that any of that was his fault?  How long had he been sitting on this?  
  
"Not even Coran noticed, Lance. The fact that you did shows how observant you are. If you were one second later we could have lost you. Or both you and Coran. We could have all been captured by the Galra fleet. We wouldn’t have known about the Balmerans either. I mean I wish you didn’t have to get hurt. Like I’d do anything to take that moment away from you. But because you noticed, you helped stop things from getting worse. We were able to fight back.”  
  
Hunk squeezed Lance tighter to his chest. "I'm so proud of you."  
  
Hunk had been so scared when he ran into the control room that night. They had all felt the castle rock from where the party was going on. But seeing Lance listless and hurt on the floor; completely unresponsive to calls, it had terrified Hunk to the core. There was a brief moment where he thought his friend was lost to him forever.  
  
"Proud?” Lance whispered, stirring Hunk from his reverie. “So many things went wrong. Shiro would never been hurt if it wasn't for me, right? He got caught because he was toting me around, and I was vulnerable and weak. He couldn’t fight back. I became a liability.”  
  
“Lance,” Hunk said sternly. He propped himself up on his elbow to better see Lance. “You need to stop. Please. This isn’t something that you could have predicted or prevented. And now, it’s in the past. We all survived. You survived. You’re here now, and we…I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Hunk kept his eye contact with Lance until he let out a shuddering breath. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right. It was…it was just fresh in my head, you know?”

Hunk smiled, and lay back down the bed. Lance scooted closer, nuzzling his cheek against Hunk’s chest. “You’re really proud of me?”

Hunk chuckled. “Of course, Lance. The proudest.”

“Thank you,” Lance said softly.

“Any time. I’m always here for you,” Hunk smiled, and pressed a kiss to the top of Lance’s head.

Lance hummed happily. He started to relax more, and Hunk could feel the tension slowly leave his body. He listened to Lance’s breathing until it finally evened out to a steady breath that showed he was fully asleep. The added warmth of Lance next to him helped ease his restless mind, and he started to doze off too.  

**Author's Note:**

> A sweet and short fic of Lance and Hunk. Sorry if the ending seemed to abrupt. I wanted to post this yesterday, but couldn't get it edited in time.


End file.
